ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

YOUTH’S LISTENING HABIT OF ENVIRONMENTAL

RADIO PROGRAMS: A Case of Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi Environmental Radio Program.

BY
DANIEL AMARE FELEKE

November 2009
ADDIS ABABA
YOUTH’S LISTENING HABIT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
RADIO PROGRAMS: A Case of Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi Environmental Radio Program.

A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of

Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Journalism and Communication

By

DANIEL AMARE FELEKE

Addis Ababa
November 2009
YOUTH’S LISTENING HABIT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
RADIO PROGRAMS: A Case of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
Environmental Radio Program.

By

DANIEL AMARE FELEKE

Approved by the Examining Board

_______________________ __________________
Chairperson signature

_______________________ __________________
Advisor signature

_______________________ __________________
External examiner signature

_______________________ __________________
Internal examiner signature
 Acknowledgement

A lot of people have contributed their share, some professional, others material
and/or moral support, to the success of this paper. I am indebted to them all.

I would like to begin with Dr. Amare Asgedom, my advisor. I really am thankful to
him. He has been by my side all the way through the work, commenting on, shaping
and suggesting for its betterment, beginning from the inception days of the topic. His
invaluable inputs are all vivid and concrete.

I am also very grateful to Ato Tenaw Terefe, vice Dean for Faculty of Journalism and
Communication, Addis Ababa University and Journalists of Radio Ethiopia Mesfin
Assefa and Beyne Engdaw. Your material and knowledge help coupled with the day
to day encouragement could never be forgotten.

My wife Samrawit Aweke, My friends Assefa Alemu, Getachew Tilahun and others I
would like to express my warmest gratitude for the care and advice you gave me. I
am also very grateful for the contributions that all who took part in this research have
made.

Last, but obviously can’t be least, glory to the almighty God, in the name of the
Father ,The Son- Jesus Christ and the Holy Sprit, for the marvelous care and help
He has been offering me, one who never deserves, all the time through.

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 Abstract

This study examined the radio listening habit of the youth on environmental issues. It
also explored the effectiveness of the environmental radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi.

To generate the appropriate data, a three stage triangulated research design,

employing qualitative approach was devised. Using purposive sampling a total of 36
high school students in Addis Ababa who are between the ages of 15-24, who are
listeners of radio and also who are willing to take part in the study were drawn from
three high schools and participated in the study.

This study elicited some insights which can help in understanding the radio listening
habit of the youth on environmental issues. Accordingly, the study showed that the
radio listening habit of the youth group on environmental issues was irregular and
poor. It is found that the youth audiences give priority for issues of sport activities
and social matters. They also incline to listen to programs which incorporate
entertaining elements in them. The study also identify that the youth audience don’t
attend the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi because of the inconvenience
transmission time of the program. Some don’t want to attend some radio stations in
relation with the problem of credibility showed in the stations.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page
Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………………………………...i
Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………...ii
Table of contents ………………………………………………………………………………………………...iii
Acronyms …………………………………………………………………………………………………………v

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1.1 Environmental Problems in Ethiopia.......................................................................................................... 1
1.1.2 Sinehizb-ena- Akababi Environmental Radio Program............................................................................. 2
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.......................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………………………………………...5
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS......................................................................................................................................5
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY……………………………………………………………………………………………………..5
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................................................................6
1.7. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY........................................................................................................................6

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………………………………………………..7

2.1 DEFINING THE AUDIENCE.................................................................................................................................7

2.2 THEORETICAL OVERVIEW OF AUDIENCE STUDIES……………………………………………………...................................9
2.2.1 Direct Effect Approach……………………………………………………………………......................................9
2.2.2 Limited Effect Approach…………………………………………………………………………………………….10
2.2.3 Uses and Gratifications Approach………………………………………………………………….....................11
2.2.4 Reception Analysis…………………………………………………………………………...................................12

CHAPTER THREE: METHOD OF STUDY AND RESEARCH DESIGN....................................................................18

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN……….................................................................................................................…………18

3.2 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION ................................................................................................................ 20
3.2.1 Focus Group Discussions........................................................................................................................... 20
3.2.2 Individual In-depth Interviews................................................................................................................... 22
3.2.3 Qualitative Content Analysis...................................................................................................................... 23
3.3 SAMPLING AND ENGAGING WITH PARTICIPANTS……………………………………………………………………….........24
3.3.1 Sampling……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...24
3.3.2 Researcher’s role…………………………………………………………………………………………………......28

3.4 DATA ANALYSIS PROCESS…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..28

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CHAPTER FOUR: PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA...........................................................3O

4.1 DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH SETTING........................................................................................................... 31

4.2 LISTENING HABIT OF THE YOUTH……………………………………………............................................................ 31
4.2.1 Media Choice............................................................................................................................................... 31
4.2.2 Which issue and Why?................................................................................................................................ 33
4.2.3 Audience’s Knowledge on Environmental Situations............................................................................... 36
4.3 SINEHIZB-ENA-AKABABI ENVIRONMENTAL RADIO PROGRAM..………………………………………………………....37
4.3.1 Who are Listeners?......................................................................................................................................37
4.3.2 Content of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi…………………………………………………………..39
4.3.3 Respondents’ View on the content of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi……………………………………...................43
4.3.4 Language usage of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi……………………………………………………………………….45
4.3.5 Applying of Media Messages……………………………………………………………………………….……….46
4.3.6 General rating by Research Participants…………………………………………………………….…………...47
4.4 ENVIRONMENT REPORTING AT RADIO ETHIOPIA……………………………………………………………………............49

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................…...53

5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ................................................................................................................................ 53

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 56
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................................57
ANNEX 1: LIST OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................... .61
ANNEX 2A: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR FGD AND IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH STUDENTS……………………………..63
ANNEX 2B: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR ALL FGDS ON INTERPRETATION OF MESSAGES
(AFTER LISTENING TO TWO SAMPLE PROGRAMS)........................................................................... 66
ANNEX 3A: GUIDE FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH THE COORDINATOR/PRODUCER
OF SINEHIZB-ENA-AKABABI ........................................................................................................................67
ANNEX 3B: GUIDE FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH THE PRODUCER O SINEHIZB-ENA-
AKABABI… ........................................................................................................................................………….69

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 ACRONYMS

EPA: Environmental Protection Authority

MOE: Ministry of Education
S.S: Secondary School

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 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

1.1.1 Environment and the Youth

Protecting environment becomes a key question of the day. Climate is changing

globally climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity are some of the major
environment issues on the globe that make the front pages of news papers and
top stories of news bulletins of radio and television broadcasts. To tackle the
problem, a plan of action like Agenda 21 is set by different stake holders. This
comprehensive plan of action is meant to be taken globally, nationally and locally
by organizations of the United Nations system, governments, and major groups
in every area in which to minimize human impacts on the environment; to
address such a problem the role of different stakeholders is vital.

The youth are critical stakeholders in the global economy and are the main
actors and the motor for change now and in the future. The energy, motivation,
and creativity of youth are essential assets for bringing change in environmental
issues. The involvement of today's youth in environment and development
decision-making and in the implementation of programs is critical to the long-term
success fighting the problem of environment. The Director General of
Environmental Protection Authority; Dr. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, in the
Speech he gave at the International Mountain Day (2007) said the Ethiopian
government is doing its best to tackle the environmental problem: „‟Can we, in
Ethiopia, do anything to stop, or at least slow down, climate change? The only
things that we can do, we are doing. This year, we planted about 700 million
trees.’’ the Environmental Protection Authority declares that it designs a project
to incorporate the youth in the activity of tackling desertification: „’The currently
fragmented and disparate youths in Ethiopia need to be mobilised and organized
for combating desertification and mitigate the effects of drought by conserving

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and sustainably utilizing the natural resources and at the same time improving
their livelihoods.’’ http://www.epa.gov.et/epa/Files/Combating_Desertification.pdf

The issue of environment has become a dominant theme for research, public
policy and media during the later part of the 20th century. As Banister et al (1999;
cited in Temesgen, 2006:14) the issue of environment is becoming dominant
issue and will continue to be like that:

Banister et al explained that the global interest in environmental change in part

stems from the increasing pressures that a mounting population puts on the
planet’s natural resources base. The rise in conservation interests has fostered
the idea that the way in which society is striping resources from our planet
simply can not continue unfinished. The finite nature of natural resources
means that we may exhaust our planet of critical resources means that we
may exhaust our planet of critical resources at some point in the time .
(Temesgen 2006:14)

In recent times environmental protection is becoming a central topic in the

world‟s public agenda. Understanding environmental science and giving them
special concern in political, media, economic, and cultural policies and
development programs is becoming imperative. To make youths involving in
such environmental issues Medias has great role in raising their awareness. So
preparing effective media out puts in relation with environmental issues and
finding out their impact is vital. The study, therefore, attempts to investigate the
radio listening habit of high school youth on environmental issues.

1.1.2 Sinehizb-ena- Akababi Environmental Radio Program

To combat environmental problems, raising the public awareness is mandatory.
According to Shibru and Kifle(1996) studies indicated that there is very limited
environmental education in Ethiopia. A study made by Daniel(2005) revealed
that, unlike previous days, environmental education has became non-existent in
the curriculum of college and schools.

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This situation thus makes the media as a significant tool in raising the awareness
of the people on environmental matters. The mass media which are widely
considered as „agents of change‟ are expected to employ different methods and
be the ring leaders in what Kojo Yankah(1999:50) described as “the
consciousness raising effort”. Even Article 4:10(6) of the Environmental Policy of
Ethiopia stresses on the role played by the media in raising environmental
awareness. (EPA, 1997)

In Ethiopia, where illiteracy is very high (36%) (World Bank,2007) and the
communication and transportation infrastructure are also poor, the impact of the
print media in educating the public about environmental issue is limited. Given
that the majority of Ethiopians per capita income is around US $ 220(World Bank,
2007), which can‟t afford to buy a TV set, the impact of television in this aspect is
also minimal.

By far the most efficient way of medium in Ethiopia is radio when compared to
other media outlets. As Laekemariam notes in the case of Ethiopia, where there
is rugged topography, high prevalence of illiteracy and poor transport facility,
radio is the preferred means of communication (Laekemariam, 2000:185).
Moreover as most scholars agree radio is inexpensive with small capital costs
and operating expenses. Also, from the perspective of the listener radio sets are
cheap to buy (McLeish, 1999:5)

According to the Ministry of Information of Ethiopia (2003:491), Radio Ethiopia in

its national service, covers 100% of the country in short wave and 70% of the
country in medium wave transmissions. The station went on air for the first time
on January 2, 1934. One of its earliest programs was the Agriculture program
that focused in part on environment related issues. Currently the Amharic service
of the radio station transmits environmental programs that are part of its
agriculture and population programs. This research also focuses on the weekly
radio program dubbed in Amharic as „Sinehizb-ena-Akababi‟ (population and

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environment). This radio program has been broadcasted on the national service
of radio Ethiopia for more than 10 years. Sinehizb-ena-Akababi is a 20 minutes
radio program aired every Tuesday starting from 12:30 am local time.

Conducting research on Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program as well as finding

out the radio listening habit of youth on environmental issues would be
significant, considering the grave environmental situations and the helping role of
the media.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Youths are perhaps the most important group of radio listeners. According to the
result of the national census conducted in 2007/08, the total number of youth
between the ages of 15-24 counts more than 15.2 million (Central Statistical
Agency, 2008). So addressing this group on environmental issues is
unquestionable. As researches conducted in US shows, youths are perhaps the
most important group of radio listeners. As a survey conducted in the USA by
radio rating company known as Arbitron; 97% of teens aged twelve through
seventeen listen to the radio at least once in a week. “Radio is simply a part of
their daily lives,” concluded one study (McCutcheon et al, 1994).

For McCutcheon et al (1994) not only radio immensely popular with teens, but it
is the most universal of all the mass media-the means of communication that can
reach large audiences. As these scholars put it, “Nowhere is there a patch of
land or stretch of ocean so remote that it can not be reached by radio signals
beamed from more than 26,000 stations world wide.

Thus unequivocally conducting research on environmental radio program as well

as finding out the listening habit of youth on environmental issues would be
significant, considering the grave environmental situations and the helping role of
the media.

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Accordingly this study will try to explore youth‟s listening habit of environmental
radio programs taking the environmental radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi as
a case. The research will attempt to see how understandable, relevant and
interesting Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program is. It also tries to show how
successful the radio program is in achieving the objectives set by the owner of
the program-Radio Ethiopia.

1.3 Objectives of the study

The main objective of this study is to find out the radio listening habit of the youth
audiences for environmental issues and asses the effectiveness of the radio
program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi regarding environmental issues.

1.4 Research Questions

Does the youth audience have special interest in listening radio programs
related with environmental issues or not?
How much does the youth like to listen to environmental issues as
compared to other issues and why?
Is the environment coverage of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi easily
understandable, interesting and relevant to the youth group?
Does the program shape the youth‟s understanding about the
environment?

1.5 Significance of the Study

This study may help people to know the radio listening habit of the youth on
environmental issues. It will also help in showing the youth audience‟s
preferences in selecting items for tuning to.

It may also be useful to media institutions and others who are working on
environmental awareness programs and communication to consider youth
audiences or target group social fragmentation and characteristics so as to
produce appropriate messages. It is also believed that this study might serve as
a springboard for those who intend to carry out further study on this area.

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1.6 Scope of the Study

The study has its focus on environmental radio program which could be tuned in
Addis Ababa and its examination mainly based on the responses of students of
three high schools in Addis. The research design included a focus group
discussion and semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with the students.
For the focus group discussion and in-depth individual interviews, the study
employed a two stage sampling process - one for the selection of schools and
the other for the selection of student participants.

1.7 Organization of the Study

The study has adopted the most common way of organizing a thesis that is
dividing into five parts. A brief discussion on environmental situations of Ethiopia,
background about environmental radio program of sinehizb-ena-Akababi as well
as objectives and significance of the study are treated under chapter one.

Issues related to the various theories in audience studies from historical and
practical perspectives are treated in chapter two. Chapter three is dedicated to a
discussion of the research methods employed in the study. Presentation of
findings and analysis makes chapter four of this study while conclusions and
recommendations are given in the last chapter.

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 CHAPTER TWO: Review of Related Literature
Introduction

Beginning from the early decades of twentieth century, media theories and
colossal amount of researches those theories generated had varied views of the
role of the audience in relation to the media. The following section of the paper
draws the different roles audiences were assumed to occupy in relation to the
media as reflected in different theories. The discussion begins with the definitions
of the term ‟audience‟ has in the view of different experts on mass
communication theories and then continues to present the earliest effects
theories and concludes by introducing the more recent one, i.e., reception
studies, of which the latter provides the theoretical basis for this study.

2.1 Defining the Audience

For the pioneers in the field of media research the word „audience‟ is very familiar
as collective term for „receivers‟ in simple sequential model of the mass
communication process (source, channel, message, receiver, effect)
(McQuail,2005:396)

As Ross & Nightingale (2003) put it, a close look at the history of the term
audience reveals that it has been in use long before the introduction of
„broadcasting modes of accessing information.‟ (Ross & Nightingale, 2003:4)
According to McQuail, the early origins of today‟s media audience lie in public
theatrical and musical performances as well as the games and spectacles of
ancient times.

Delia(1987) explains how the audience was portrayed in the early times of media
research:

At an early point in the media research, actual audiences were shown to consist
of many over lapping networks of social relations based on locality and common
interests, and the „mass‟ media were incorporated into these networks in different
ways.(Delia,1987;cited in McQuail 2005:399)

7
In a concept where audiences are taken as a market, the term „audience‟ may be
defined as an „aggregate of actual or potential consumers of media services and
products, with a known social-economic profile.‟ (McQuail, 2005:399) Croteau
and Hoynes(2003) describe the term „audience‟ as, “…the image of a mass of
passive receivers ingesting their daily dose of media products.”(Croteau and
Hoynes, 2003:266)

The term „audience‟ has now broad meaning and used to describe people who
are engaged in accessing information in a manner that ranges from individual to
large group activities. This term in media studies is often used as “a way of
talking about people either as groups or as individuals‟‟ (Ross & Nightingale,
2003:4)

For McQuail(2005) „audiences‟ are all those who are actually reached by
particular media content or media „Channels‟. For him „audience‟ can also exist
as an imagined „target‟ or intended group of receivers. He adds, “It may coincide
with a real society group or public.‟‟(2005:548) McQuail(2005) in his detailed
discussion of the audience, he gives a more comprehensive definition of
„audience‟ arguing that the term can be described in divers ways:

„Audience‟ can be defined in different and overlapping ways: by place(as in the

case of local media); by people(as when a medium is characterized by an appeal
to a certain age group, gender, political belief or income category ); by the
particular type of medium or channel involved(technology and organization
combined);by the content of its messages genres, subject matter, style);by
time(as when one speaks of the „day time‟ or „prime time‟ audience, that is feeling
and short term compared with one that endures). (McQuail, 2005:396)

As far as this research is concerned:

The definitions that assume „audience‟ as „those who
actively engaged with mediated message as audience‟; and
McQuail‟s definition of „audiences‟ according to the relevant
media and content or in terms of their social composition,
location, or time of day); will guide this study when ever
there is a reference to the term „audience‟.
[

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2.2 Theoretical Overview of Audience Studies

2.2.1 Direct Effect Approach

In the early 20th century, looking at audiences as passive and considering media
as powerful was a dominant views in explaining the relationship between these
two entities. In that period media was considered as a powerful tools of
persuasion. (Ross & Nightingale, 2003:74-75) This premise considers audience
as only receivers of media messages as presented by the media outlet. But other
groups who criticize this idea argue that „responsible audience activity‟ should be
taken in to consideration when talk about media effect. For this group the
audience has the ability to „select, interpret and use of the media content.‟(Baran
& Davis, 2006:261)

This view was reflected by the traditional effect theory which was also known as
„magic bullet‟ theory or „hypodermic needle‟ theory. This theory argued that all
members of the audience receive media messages in a homogenous manner
and their reactions whether „immediate or direct‟ happen as the result of the
messages they have received.(Williams, 2003:171) This effect paradigm
emphasized the power of media in determining how audiences think and
behave.(Williams,2003:206)

However, study after study proved that media were not powerful and had no
direct effect on people‟s attitude or opinion, as people also could be influenced
more by other factors like education and social position.(Baran & Davis,
2006:135)

Herbert Blumer criticized the direct effects perspective by nothing that the
approach has „ignored three factors‟ namely “the variability of media contents,
the variability of people‟s responsiveness to media contents, and the
independent connection of all forms of communication.”(Blumer,1959;cited in
Staiger,2005:44) Schramm also raised his skepticism about the direct effect
approach. Saying that the audience might interpret the message in a different
manner than the sender‟s intention.(Schramm,1963:cited in Staiger,2005:44) It

9
was out of such skeptics that another rival audience research approach evolved
as we see in the next discussion.

2.2.2 Limited Effect Approach

Later researchers like Tudor(1979) challenged the ideas of the hypodermic

needle theory. For them the „effect‟ of a particular item or image was not solely
outcome of the content of that item or image‟. According to their findings
audiences were regarded as „individuals who could interpret what they saw and
heard inline with their own already established beliefs.‟ In this regard the media
were found to have fewer roles than previous assumption in changing behavior
but more in reinforcing existing beliefs.(Tudor,1979:cited in Williams,2003:174)

This theory gave emphasis to the role played by opinion leaders and argued
interpersonal contacts as more important than the media in influencing
audiences. As a result this limited effects model came to be called the two-step
flow theory.(Croteau and Hoynes, 2003:241;Williams,2003:174) Its worth nothing
here that the two-step flow theory like the hypodermic needle theory believed in
the influence of media but the later trends in „enforcing existing attitudes and
opinions‟ not in changing them.

One of the critiques of this theory argued that the limited effects approach has
undermined the complexity of the communication process and the manner in
which influence occurs. According to Williams the theory considered influence as
the authority of one person on the other overlooking other factors that have the
power on the flow of information‟ in any given social setting. He cited „the power
of political and economic institutions‟ as an example. The limited effect approach
has also given vague explanations concerning the make up of the inter face
between the opinion leaders and audiences. The theory has also faced criticism
for labeling „the majority‟ of the audience as passive. (Williams, 2003:176)

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2.2.3 Uses and Gratifications Approach

By the mid 1970‟s, the use and gratifications theory emerged as a reaction to the
effects studies. Their theory was characterized by its basic assumption that
audiences “actively involved in selecting messages to gratify individual
needs.”(Pitout, 2001:244). As being an opposite of the early effects theories, it
assumes media “with no effect on their audience… With power what part the
media play in their lives” (Williams, 2003:166).

As opposed to former theories this approach came to consider audiences as

active with the capacity of picking preferred content message from the media.(
DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach,1989:187).

The uses and gratifications approach, while accepting the active role of
audiences, focuses its examination on, the uses to which people put media and
the gratifications they seek from that use; (Baran& Davis, 2006:262-263).

This theory shifted the attention of audience research from the medial and media
content to the audience‟s role with emphasis on how audience use to please
ones social and psychological desires. Some scholars also regarded the uses
and gratification theory as the first approach to place audiences at the heart
when it comes to studying medial effects. (Ross & Nightingale, 2003:29).

The uses and gratification theory was criticized for its incapability of clarifying
human interaction with media. Reimer criticized this theory for its focus on
individualism, ignoring” the context within which media use takes place‟‟ (Reimer
cited in Pitout, 2001:244). Grossberg, Wortella and Whitney, quoted in Pitout
(2001) also challenged the use and gratification theory by saying that the theory
provides” no understanding of the connection between our individual
psychological needs and the influence of cultural and social contexts on our
media uses and interpretation of media message” (Pitout, 2001:244).

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The theory‟s attention on the individual as the unit of analysis‟ made it to ignore
the social aspect. The theory asserts that individuals consume media with
purpose; critics however argue that attending media producer is something that
happens more casually and with out planning. According to these critics, people
might attend a certain media because of its prominence or lack of access to or
absence of alternative media outlets.( Williams,2003:178-179) Other researchers
like Baran And Davis (2006:275) also criticized the uses and gratifications theory
for its failure to show whether there is effect or not in a given audience research.

2.2.4 Reception Analysis

The current phase in audience research has its focus on finding out what the
audience did with media not the later did to the former. Ross and Nightingale in
their book Media and Audiences put this approach as the “latest phase” where
emphasis is given to „agency rather than passivity‟.(2003:76).

With the reception approach, exploring what audiences think of the influence the
medial have brought in their lives became the main interest of the researchers.
This theory bases its argument on the premise that audiences „interpret media
message‟ and this capacity is decided by a host of „individual, social and cultural
factors.‟(Williams, 2003:193)

In this phase of audience research the arguments endorsed by the preceding

approaches that consider audiences as homogenous mass of recipients were
challenged by the reception analysis approach which started to view audiences
as „a multitude of different group with their own histories, habits, and social
interactions‟. Here the researchers are also keen to know the condition with in
which the reception of media message transpires. The researchers also indicated
that there are specific audiences for particular media products. This statement
has come out of the notion that audiences are more powerful and have freewill of
choosing what and when they want to watch, listen and read a particular media
output. (Williams, 2003:198-199).

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Klaus Jensen writes audience and content analysis must remain the core
investigations of a reception analysis if the study has to come out with convincing
description of „the reception, uses, and impact of media.‟(Jensen & Jankowski,
1991:135) This is to mean that media texts and their audiences are
corresponding elements that any researcher engaged in reception analysis pay
utmost attention to.

Many scholars agree that Hall‟s encoding /decoding model has the basics for
reception theory. This was clearly observed back in 1978 in the audience study
conducted by David Morley and Charlotte Brunsdon for BBC TV news magazine
Nationwide. The approach adopted by these researchers was significantly
influenced by Hall‟s encoding /decoding model. (Williams, 2003:195: Ross &
Nightingale, 2003:36-39) Hall‟s model differed from other theories in that it made
media effects to be dependent on the interpretation of audiences and „thought
processes.‟ It also focuses on the interaction between audiences and „texts‟ as
well as the social settings where such interaction takes place. (Williams,
2003:196).

Ian Hutch by (2006) in his book, Media talk: Conversation, Analysis and the study
of Broadcasting, identifies two ideas which he referred as „key significances‟ of
Hall‟s theory.

One key significance of Hall‟s theory, therefore, is the recognition that there may
not be any necessary symmetry between the frameworks of meaning involved in
encoding a particular text and those involved in decoding it….A second
significance is the implication that either „end‟ of the encoding/decoding circuit
can be subject to empirical enquiry: we could go and do a study of how media
producers encode their products just as much as we could look at how audiences
actually decode them. (Hutch, 2006:8)

As opposed to the uses and gratifications theory, Hall emphasized on the various
social setting and background that determine and affect the audience‟s
interpretation of „texts‟. In Hall‟s case” perception was not conceived in personal
or psychological terms but social.”(Williams, 2003:196)

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The uses gratifications as well as the reception analysis approaches have a
shared view concerning the power of the audience which they say possess an
‟interpretive freedom‟. But they have underlying divergence when dealing factors
affecting interpretation.

The uses gratifications theory seems to give much emphasis to individuals as far
as interpretation is concerned. In the regard Morley says to this theory
“differences of response or interpretation are attributed to individual differences
of personality”( Morely,1989;cited in Sterlitz,2000:40). Williams writes “some say
this [uses and gratifications theory] represents a retreat from the two-step flow
approach.”(Williams, 2003:179).

Proponents of the reception analysis on the other hand regard the uses and
gratifications tradition as” psychological‟ which is incapable of seeing the media or
the audience in a broader “social context”. In reception studies pinpointing social
dimensions and examining response or interpretation based on those dimensions
remains to be an important task of the research.(Williams,2003:178-179&
Staiger,2005:55).

Thought considered the latest approach in the study of audiences, analysis does
not escape the attention of critics. Like the case with the uses and gratification,
reception theory is considered as an approach short of indicating the “presence
or absence of effects‟. The fact that reception studies depend on the “subjective
interpretation of audience reports‟ as well as their use of qualitative research
methods which prevent the findings from describing cases were also listed as
weaknesses of reception analysis.(Baran and Davis:278).

In spite of the criticisms forwarded by some scholars; it seems, least at this

moment reception analysis is to be most applicable approach in media audience
research. In support of this argument Staiger considers reception studies as
something that has an important part in the „individual or social and political lives‟
of humans. While acknowledging difficulties seen in some reception studies in

14
coming up with „specific conclusion‟ Staiger underlines that in mass
communication research „‟It [reception studies] is particularly pragmatic
filed”(2006:4).

When explaining significant and uncontested place of reception analysis in

current audience studies, Schroder writes:

With more than 20 years‟ experience, reception research has now consolidated
itself as an established research tradition, still developing but with a solid the
theoretical and methodological foundation, and accumulating record of
substantial findings. (2003:141).

It is thus with these above consideration that this reception study on Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi environmental radio program employed the approaches of reception
analysis.

Inline with the researcher‟s choice of definition for the term „audience‟ scholars in
reception analysis see audiences as ”disparate, fragmentary collection of
individuals, rather than the homogenous mass often envisaged by earlier
approaches”. In reception analysis audiences are portrayed as active ones
engaged in making their own stands as far as ‟text‟ is concerned that may enable
them to „question‟ challenge or reject elements of the text‟s
message‟(Hutchby,2006:8).

Mass communication experts like Baran and Davis advise researchers involved
in reception studies to refrain from making their own statement about encoding or
decoding. What they instead recommend is to make meticulous examinations on
“the social and political context in which media content is produced and the every
day life context in which it is consumed.”(2006:276).This statement thus shows
the two elements to be dealt in reception analysis-content of media and the
audience.

15
Conclusion

The foregoing discussion has outlined the theoretical basis of this study. It has
addressed the debates surrounding the roles of the audiences in successive
theories which rose to prominence at different times of the age of mass
communication research.

To Croteau and Hoynes the concept of active audience is the underlying principle
of current audience research. The authors argued that any effort to examine the
effect of media has to first accept the hypothesis “…media consumption is often
an active processing of information, not just a passive reception of media words
and images”. (2003: 247) Thus this paper stands on the theoretical foundation on
the active audience theory which brings insight into how audiences understand
and interact with the mass media.

Such views, as discussed in the literature review, are rooted in the reception
theories, and this study which focuses on exploring the radio listening habit of the
youth on environmental issues, has taken the resulted strengths of the audience
reception research tradition continues to embrace them throughout.

16
 CHAPTER THREE: Method of Study and Research Design

Introduction

This study sought to produce data and understandings on the listening habit of
the youth in relation with environmental radio programs. To this effect, the study
has followed the qualitative data gathering and analysis tools applicable in line
with audience reception analysis. This part of the paper therefore, discusses the
principles underlying the qualitative method of research which provides the
guidelines for conducting this study.

Accordingly, the study attempts to provide justifications as to why this study opts
for qualitative methods of research. It also discusses the data gathering tools,
i.e., qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews and individual in-depth
interviews, which are often put to use to provide the „insider perspectives‟ of the
research subjects.

3.1 Research Design

Opting for qualitative Research –

As discussed in the preceding chapter, the history of media audience research
has made its eventual transformation from a powerful media perspective to active
audience approaches. With this researchers began to look for methods that could
offer „satisfactory‟ justifications regarding media and audiences. The new
method, according to Morley (1980), adopted an approach that enables the
researcher to make an insightful examination of the involvement and reaction of
audiences with media. This approach [qualitative method], Morley (1980) argues,
is one that attaches due importance to audiences.

And when justifying why researchers started to adopt qualitative methods, Morley
(1980) writes “There was a growing recognition that audiences should be allowed
to express their thoughts and their feelings about media content in their own
terms” (1980; cited in Gunter, 2000: 54)

17
While explaining the significance of qualitative approaches in audience studies,
Mytton (1999:126) in his book Handbook on Radio and Television Audience
Research, says it is clear from various studies that audiences might be
influenced more by „the intervening influence of other people‟ but not simply by
the „media messages‟ they receive. And he adds it is the qualitative research
method not the quantitative one that can only reveal these influences in a lucid
manner. Mytton thus argues:
This is partly because quantitative research tends to focus on individual behavior
within a household or family, whereas qualitative research in focus groups puts the
respondents into a social setting in which the personal influences that operate in
social settings are reproduced and can be observed. (1999:126)

In a move to show how qualitative methodologies are central in communication

studies and best equipped to uncover the meaning making process Lindlof writes
“If communication is primarily a matter of signifying meanings and purposes, then
qualitative inquiry is interested in how signifying occurs and what it means for
those who engage in it.” (1995: 22). Another mass communication researcher
Moran, when explaining how qualitative approaches best suit audience studies,
writes “A trend in audience research has been to use qualitative methodologies
to uncover how audience members interact with the mass media” (2003:3)

It also seems plausible to quote the statement made by Schroder et al. (2003) as
to what makes qualitative data gathering methods applicable in reception studies.

Reception research is premised on the belief that neither the semiotic analysis of
media texts nor questionnaire-based analysis of media gratifications is capable of
grasping the complexities of the media experience. Consequently, the prescribed
methodological approach to reception analysis is some kind of qualitative
interview, in which viewers [audiences] verbalize their experiences of media
material. (2003:122)

As a research on radio audience, this study tends to take up qualitative methods.

One of the characteristics and may be the strengths of qualitative research is its
utilization of host of techniques of data collection which Rossman and Rallis call
“methods that are interactive and humanistic” (1990; cited in Creswell,
2003:181). Accordingly the different methods that were employed in this study
are presented in the following discussions.

18
3.2 Methods of Data Collection

The research followed the following methods of data collection.

3.2.1 Focus Group Discussions

Thirty-eight individuals were interviewed for this research. Of these respondents

36 were students of drawn from three high schools in Addis Ababa.

The research participants who were in the ages between 15-24 are students
currently enrolled in high school level (9-12) and most of them participated in the
environmental club in their perspective schools.

Though it is hardly possible to say the study was gender sensitive, efforts are
made to incorporate more women participants. Accordingly, put of the total 36
students participated in the study, 22 of them were females. This shows us that
about 60% of the respondents in the research group were females.

Why FGDs?

Reception researches mainly use the two main alternatives of in-depth

interviews- focus group and individual interviews- to study how people make
sense of a media product (Schroder et. al. cited in Mabweazara, 2006:5).

Accordingly, as being a reception analysis, this study has used a three stage
triangulated method, which employed qualitative data gathering approaches of
qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews and individual in-depth
interviews.

The first stage of the triangulation; the focus group discussion was intended to
examine the radio listening habit of youth audience on environmental issues,
taking „Sinehizb-ena-Akababi‟ environmental radio program as a case.

A focus group discussion offers opportunities for obtaining in depth responses to

how people think and feel. Strelitz, (2005) quoting Deacon et. al. (1999) writes:
this method has been used widely in media studies to explore “the social context

19
of media consumption and the creative role that audience members play in
decoding media texts” (Strelitz, 2005:91). Kitzinger also noted that focus group
discussion helps researchers to reveal “the parts that often remain untapped by
more conventional data collection techniques” (1995:1).

“A focus group is characterized by homogeneity…in terms of variables such as

age gender, education, family characteristics, or use of a particular mass
medium” (Du Plooy, 2001: 305). Consequently, to set up the focus groups in this
study, a criterion will be class or grade level variations among the members.

Each group has been moderated by the investigator and an assistant moderator.
The themes for discussion in the focus group discussions included the youth
listening habit of environmental radio programs and their reflections on the
environmental radio programs of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi.

During the discussion, as an aided recall, samples of the program have been
played to the participants. Then, the moderator made the participant talk about
the programs to get their impression on the environmental messages. All the
discussions held in each focus group been recorded. Notes were also being
taken to see what sort of information was being secured and what was missing
during each discussion. So as to keep the discussion on the right track, based on
the themes of the study, a discussion guide was devised.

3.2.2 Individual In-depth Interviews

The second stage of the triangulation used, was an individual in-depth interview
with selected participants of the focus group discussions. Cognizant of the fact
that focus group data should be supported with a range of data collected through
different research methods; individual in-depth interview method has been used
as a follow up to focus group discussion.

20
Individual in-depth interview method is believed to yield different kinds of
information from focus group. Schroder, et. al. quoted in Mabweazara, (2006)
explains that individual in-depth interview is important as it circumvents the fear
and shyness of participants in expressing their typical views and experiences in a
group discussion (Mabweazara, 2006:12). For this reason, individual in-depth
interview can be taken as best method to explore “an issue that is felt by the
individual to be too sensitive to talk about in the presence of others, other than a
researcher who grants the informant full anonymity” ( Schroder et. al. cited in
Mabweazara,2006:12).

Besides, during the focus group discussions, it was observed that some of the
participants had hesitant stands on the issues discussed which might be the
influence of other participants‟ ideas. It was also noticed that although there were
participants who had strong arguments and keen to forward it, they were
inhibited by their shyness to speak and argue more on issues raised during the
discussions.

Taking these in to consideration, an in-depth interview method was employed to

further elaborate the data generated using the focus group discussion and solicit
additional insights that could not be obtained through the group discussions. At
this stage, then, a total of 12, semi structured in-depth individual interviews had
been conducted.

Since the in-depth interview is a supplement for the focus group discussions, the
discussion guide applied to the focus group discussions has been used to guide
the interview.

As for the convenience and comfort of the participants and the investigator, both
the focus group discussions and the semi-structured in-depth interview were
conducted at the premises of the three schools.

21
3.2.3 Qualitative Content Analysis

It is unthinkable for a researcher in media reception studies to embark on the

task of focus group and in-depth interviews with out having a prior knowledge of
the media out put under investigation. This initial acquaintance with the „media
product‟ helps the researcher to have a valuable and „focused‟ dialogue with the
research groups during the data collection. (Schroder et al., 2003:154-155)

An examination of the media out put [content analysis] became a necessity due
to the purpose of reception analysis that requires „a comparative examination of
the audience data as well as content data‟ (Jensen and Rosengren, 1990 cited in
Strelitz, 2005:121).

This argument is further substantiated in one of Jensen‟s articles where he notes

the significance of textual analysis in reception studies saying that “Reception
analysis shares an interest in cultural codes as expressed in media texts with
various forms of textual analysis.”(1988:3)

The need for conducting content analysis also arises from the premise that any
media reception study has to consider the content as much as the audience.
(Jensen & Jankowski, 1991:135)

Conducting the content analysis might also help the researcher to asses well the
selected programs and corroborate the results with the responses of research
participants regarding the content of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi.

It needs to be noted here that in a qualitative content analysis of this kind, the
required analysis is only at elementary level in a way that familiarizes the
researcher with the media product. As Schroder et al put it “it is often wiser to
abstain from a detailed preliminary textual analysis; and just to familiarize oneself
with the text sufficiently to be able to pursue the cultural or political research
questions that motivates the project” (Schroder et al.: 2003, 126). In the same

22
manner this study has made reviews of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi programs aired
between the months of September 2008 up to April 2009. A rough examination
of the programs aired over this period might enable the researcher to how
different environmental issues were presented on Sinehizb-ena-Akababi.

3.3 Sampling and Engaging with participants

The following part of this paper will discuss about the sampling process and the

engagement conducted with the research participants.

3.3.1 Sampling

As it is true to qualitative research methods (Deacon et al., 1999:54) the

selection of research participants was made purposefully and based on the
research agenda. When it comes to the nature and composition of focus groups,
the researcher used „relatively homogenous groups‟ which has been proved
effective in getting audiences‟ own experiences concerning media content
(Jensen, 2002:241; Lunt and Livingstone, 1996:82). The research participants in
the six groups were grouped based on their grade level.

The researcher started recruiting respondents by looking for those who listen to
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program and then those who listen to the radio in
general. This technique of selecting research participants based on whether they
use the subject under investigation seems quite common. (Mytton, 1999:130).
Six to ten is the recommended range for the number of participants in a focus
group. Accordingly this study kept 6 participants in each group allover the
discussions.

Ten individuals were selected for in-depth interviews. Out of these, two were the
producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program whom the researcher met in
their respective office. The rest eight were students who were picked by the
researcher based on their active participation in the focus group discussion and
their revealed interest in environment and media. The researcher used in-depth

23
interview as another chief means of data collection because recent studies on
radio audiences have come to show the more „individual‟ nature of listening
rather than „family based or group activity‟(Mytton,1999:141)
Sampling Process

As it is stated earlier, the main objective of this study is to explore the radio
listening habit of high school youth audiences between the age group 15-24 in
Addis Ababa. The research focused on the environmental radio programs, taking
the „Sinehizb-ena-Akababi‟ as a case. The very reason why the study focused on
this age group is that the youth in this group has a significant number in the
society and has the potential to participate actively in environmental matters. .

„Sinehizb-ena-Akababi‟ is not a targeted program to a specific part of the society;

rather it is prepared and transmitted targeting the general population. However,
as being part of the society, the youth also receive messages from this radio
program. As a result, the target population of this study was all youth listeners of
the program in Addis Ababa as „Sinehizb-ena-Akababi‟ radio program is
transmitted on the national service of radio Ethiopia. However, because of the
budgetary and time constraints, the study was limited to a small number of high
school youth.

The study included a focus group discussion and semi-structured in-depth

individual interviews with high school students in Addis Ababa. For the focus
group discussion and in-depth individual interviews, a two stage sampling
process - one for the selection of schools and the other for the selection of
student participants, were implemented.

I investigated that the Education Statistics Annual Abstract of the City

Government of Addis Ababa Education Bureau for year 2007/08 is not ready. So
it is inevitable to use the data from the 2006/2007 academic year. In the previous
academic year there have been 123 governmental and nongovernmental
secondary (high schools) in Addis Ababa which has accommodated about a total

24
of 114,993 students. The enrollment annual growth rate was 88.7%. (City
Government of Addis Ababa Education Bureau Education Statistics Annual
Abstract 2006/07:11-40)

All high schools in Addis Ababa that enrolled Ethiopian students in grades 9
through 12 for the 2007/2008 academic year were considered for the study.
Schools with a special student population (such as prisoners), foreign community
schools, and students needing special assistance (such as the visually impaired)
were excluded from the study. Then, out of the total 123 high schools the
remaining 31 high schools put for the collection of data. From them three high
schools have been selected using, simple random sampling method.
Accordingly, Dagmawi Menilik, Yemane Birihan, and Addis Ketema secondary
schools were selected as the settings for this study.

The research focused on between the age group 15-24 in Addis Ababa, and who
are regular listeners of radio, understand and make sense of the messages of
environmental radio programs. If one has a complete list of all these youth
audiences, it would be possible to have a truly representative sample of the
target population either using a randomly or a systematic sampling method.

However, for one reason, it was impossible to do this. Since there was no a
complete list of all these youth listeners, some youth who may not listen to and
have no idea about the program at all might been included in the sample, as the
selection was taking place randomly. This made the sample to have elements,
which were out of the sample frame. As a result, the subjects of this study have
been selected purposively using a non-random sampling method.

Accordingly, using purposive sampling method, twelve students from each

school, that is, a total of 36 students who are between the ages 15-24, who are
regular listeners of radio programs, and who are willing to take part in the study
have been selected from these three schools.

25
While selecting the subjects from each school, an attempt has been made to
include students from grade 9 through 12. To secure access to reach each
section of grade 9 through 12, voluntary teachers been approached. And then,
these teachers have been asked to take the name of the volunteers who wanted
to participate in the study (if there are any at all) until the required number, i.e.
twelve students in each school been obtained. After the subjects of the study
have been selected, six focus groups were formed.

Subjects for in-depth interviews were represented from the participants of the six
focus group discussions. The participants have been selected based on the
criteria, namely, being the most expressive and being eager in the focus group
discussions. Accordingly, a total of 12 participants, two from each focus group,
have been taken for individual in-depth interview.

3.3.2 Researcher’s role

In all the focus group discussions I acted as a moderator. Before the discussion
begins I did make sure that all participants were comfortable with my audio
recording. All have agreed to my requests. My role as a moderator was mainly
raising issues in their sequences, inspiring participants to respond and making
sure every member of the group has got fair chances to speak.

3.4 Data Analysis Process

The focus group discussion data has been analyzed qualitatively. After the data
was collected through tape recordings and note taking, the tapes have been
transcribed to capture all of the main idea in to words of the participants and
then, translated into English. Then, to make the qualitative analysis more
systematic, the data has been categorized into a common frame of analysis; in
this case, a set of responses with similar themes as structured in the discussion
guide. The data gathered from the in-depth interview has also been categorized
similarly.

26
After that, the responses that seem to belong together in each category have
been interpreted, summarized and presented including direct quotes of the
participants which are believed to be representative of the responses to particular
issues under discussion.

Conclusion

Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were the main tools of data
collection in this research. This decision emanates from the set objectives and
purposes of the research project that in a way determined the research method
which in this case is using qualitative methods of inquiry. I made a description of
sampling techniques and procedures that has been used in the research. This
component of the methodology has been employed in the data collection phase
to come up with the findings put in the following chapter. It seems worth noting at
this point that as it is the case to all qualitative methods, generalization would not
at all be the intention of this study.

27
CHAPTER FOUR: Presentation and Analysis of Data

Introduction

In this chapter, an attempt is made to analyze the data obtained from the focus
group discussions and in-depth interviews. Emerging issues in the focus group
discussions and in-depth interviews are analyzed simultaneously as they deal
with the same idea.

As it is already mentioned in Chapter One, the main objective of this paper is to

explore the radio listening habit of the youth on environmental issues, taking
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi environmental radio program as a case.

As the interview guides for both the focus group discussions and in-depth
interviews were organized around the two major themes pertaining to the main
objective of this study, the information obtained was also analyzed under these
two themes. The first theme focused on assessing the listening habit of
environmental radio programs by the youth. The second theme was concerned in
finding out that the coverage of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi environmental radio
program is understandable, interesting and relevant to students of high school at
Addis Ababa.

Based on the discussions in the foregoing chapters that adopt the theory of
reception analysis and qualitative audience research method; this chapter mainly
tries to identify whether the research participants listen to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
radio program, how much the program has shaped their understanding of
environmental issues, how understandable, interesting and relevant the program
is to their respective environmental concerns.

The presentations of direct quotes of research participants are made based on

the degree of relevance and representation of the responses as well as the
relative articulation respondents have.

28
4.1 Description of Research Setting

This research was conducted on three high schools in Addis Ababa. The
selection method of the schools is described in Chapter three of this paper. The
selected high schools were Dagmawi Menillik S.S, Addis Ketema S.S and
Yemane Birihan S.S. In the next sections we are going to see the brief
descriptions of these schools.
Dagmawi Menelik S.S
This school was established in 1898 E.C as Ethiopia‟s first modern school. This
school which is located in the sub city of Arada started with no more than 20
students at the early stages but presently has 4,198 students. Out of these 2,038
are males and 2,160 of them are females. The school started with 6 classrooms
in the initially but now reached to have 64 sections and 37 classes. The numbers
of teachers in the school is currently 122, out of these 101 them are males and
the rest 21 are female teachers.

This school is not only known for its pioneer in establishment but also in bringing
many known personalities like artists. This happened because students are
encouraged to participate in different extracurricular activities in the school. The
environment protection club of the school is one of the forums to perform for this
kind of extracurricular activities. The environmental protection club of Dagmawi
Menelik S.S has 25 members, of these, 17 0f them are girls and the rest 8 are
boys. These active members of the club strive in accomplishing the objectives of
their club which centers on minimizing human impact on the environment and
make the environment clean and green. As the chair man of the club, Yoseph
Dagnachew (a grade 11 student), told to me the club became successful in
achieving its main objectives and this effort recognized by different stakeholders
in different times. As instances the chairman mentioned the club earns different
awards of excellence in keeping the environment. In the group discussion held at
the school premises most of the members of the club participated as research
participants.

29
Addis Ketema S.S
Addis Ketema S.S was the other place where this research conducted in. This
school established in 1960. The school is located in the heart of “the biggest
open market in Africa”-Merkato. The school has 4,352 students held in 66
sections; of them 2,374 are males and 1,978 are females. The number the
school‟s teachers are 111. Male teachers‟ are 102 in number and the females‟
number is only 9. The students who participated in the environmental protection
club reached currently up to 30. Of these members 20 of them are female
students. As the coordinator of the club, Atnafu Baynessagn who is a Biology
teacher of the school told me the club gives priority for cleaning the surrounding
of the school. He said as the school located in the center of a market place, its
surrounding is highly polluted by wastes left by traders and consumers, this is
why the club gives priority for cleaning he added. Some of the club members
participated in the focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews
conducted in this research.

Yemane Birihan S.S

The third school where this research took place, Yemane Birihan S.S, was
established in1976 as a private school. It started as a primary and junior school
but before three years ago the school administration opened the high school in
its compound with 6 class rooms. This school which is located in the sub- city of
Kolfe-Keranio currently has 345 students, of these 159 are males and 186 are
females. The number of teachers in the school is 8, and only one of them is a
female. As this school is upgraded to high school level recently, its experience in
extracurricular activities is also limited. But the coordinator of the environmental
protection club, Ebrahim Ahmed argued, even if the school has limited
experience in handling extra curricular activities, member of the club have great
potential to activate for the betterment of the environment like those students
who belong to senior schools did. As I observed, members of the environmental
club planted different trees in their school compound. As Ebrahim told me the
students have done this within only one year, and he added that the club
members planed for this year to plant more trees inside the school compound

30
and nearby areas as well. Most of these students participated in this research as
respondents.
Four of the FGD sessions were held in class rooms of two schools ( Dagmawi
Menillik and Addis Ketema Secondary Schools) and two sessions were held in
the environmental club office of Yemane Birihan Secondary school. The same
office is used by the club members for various meetings. Coordinator of the
environmental club told the researcher that most students have been to his office
many times. All research participants also gave their consent to the researcher
when he mentioned that office as one of the venues for the FGD.

4.2 Listening Habit of the Youth

The following section of this paper has tried to discuss about the listening habit of
the youth by showing their media choice and selection of issues.
4.2.1 Media Choice

Most respondents choose TV as a primary source for information. They

mentioned television‟s power to attract audience as a reason for attending the
media regularly. Dawit Mekonen, 17 year male student, said that he preferred TV
from other media because of one major reason:
The presentation on TV always appealed to me because of live pictures. This has
the power to catch the eyes of the viewers. I prefer seeing tangible activities via
TV rather than hearing or reading about it in other media.
(Dawit,Yemane Birihan S.S, 20/5/09)
Most of the discussants indicated that radio is preferable in presenting
entertaining programs and music. Because of this, they prefer radio next to TV.
For the question how often they listen to the radio. Most discussants are found to
become occasional listeners. Mostly they choose radio to listen to entertaining
programs like music, short information about sport, traffic flow and the like. They
also indicated that most of them don‟t regularly listen to radio programs which
have serious genres such as news and current affairs. For 15 year old Samrawit
Tsegaye, radio is only serving her as a source of entertainment: “I usually tune
radio to listen to music and drama. I don‟t waste a minute to listen to any radio

31
program especially if it is a serious genre.” (Samrawit,Dagmawi Menillik S.S,
10/5/09)

The respondents exposed that if they obliged to tune educative radio programs,
they prefer programs which incorporate entertaining part in it. These kinds of
programs have the power to appeal audience, they described. Birtukan Demisse,
18 year old female student on her part made the following comment:
I usually incline in listening to entertaining radio programs which incorporate
elements like music, drama, short story narrations and the like. I have never been
bored to listen to such programs. (Birtukan, Yemane Birihan S.S, 20/5/09)

The research participants also pointed out that they don‟t read that much
magazines and news papers as the price became unaffordable for the social
class like them. Assefa Alemu, 17 year old male student, complained on the high
price of Magazines and News papers.

The price of Magazines and news papers currently rose up to 5 Ethiopian Birr.
Students can’t afford to buy them. I personally don’t even watch ETV because it is
full of advertisements and music. So that I am enforced in listening to the radio.
(Assefa Alemu,Addis Ketema S.S, 15/5/09)

When the respondents asked which radio station they tuned most, most of them
put FM radio stations as their primary choice. They were also asked whether they
listen to the national service of Radio Ethiopia or not? In their response, most of
them said they don‟t tune to the station that much. As they put it, they prefer to
tune to FM stations because most of the stations have entertaining programs.
Sheger FM 102.1 is the most popular and favorite radio channel chosen by most
of the discussants. Following Sheger 102.1, FM 96.3, Fana FM 98.1 and FM
Addis 97.1 are also favorite channels chosen by the respondents.

4.2.2 Which issue and Why?

Being asked which issue appeal to them more for listening, most respondents
confirmed that they give priority for issues of sport activities and social matters.
Few of the discussants described that they have interest in tuning in to issues
concerning environment, health and economy. As the participants of the

32
research said, the way issues presented in the media, „peer pressure‟ and
family‟s influence are factors which influenced their choice of issues.
As the research participants explained in the FGDs they don‟t make a conscious
decision to listen to a specific issue on the radio. For the youth, not the issue
which forces them to listen, but the way it is presented in the media influenced
them to attend to it. They confirmed that, may be after tuning such programs for
some times, they might develop interest to follow some issues in the media.
Nardos Gorfu, 16 year old female student‟s experience could be taken as an
example:

Previously I don’t have the interest to follow social matters. But a radio program
which presented social matters like family problems, via direct phone-in session
made me to have interest on such matters. I am now a regular listener of this
radio program. (Nardos,Yemane Birihan S.S,20/5/09)

„Peer pressure‟ is the other factor which influenced the youth‟s choice of issue.
As respondents put it, some times they tuned to some specific issues to cop up
with their friends. Asmelash Tekalegn, 16 year old male student, confirmed that
he regularly attends sport items because of the influence of his class mates.

I don’t have that much interest in sports especially for foot ball. But my class
mates always talk about football in the class room. So in order to be active
participant in the group and not to be alienated, I usually tune to sport issues and
discuss with my friends. (Asmelash, Dagmawi Menillik S.S, 10/5/09)

A significant number of respondents also mentioned that some family members

have considerable influence in shaping their listening habit of specific issues.
Nuria Hashim, 15 year old female student, indicated that her family members are
the ones who decided what to listen to.

When ever I stayed home, I don’t have the power to choose what ever I like to
listen from the radio. If my parents tune to radio news or other programs that
interest them, that will be the only choice left for me to listen to. They don’t allow
me to search the channel I want to tune to. (Nuria,Addis Ketma S.S,15/5/09)

33
For 15 year old female student, Bethlehem Alebachew, the struggle to choose
favorite channel is a cause of conflict among her family members.
I have two brothers and one sister. We always argue each other whenever some
one tries to switch on the radio. Our brothers are crazy about foot ball, my sister
don’t want to miss any radio drama or music choice. Me, I don’t have the taste
for my brothers’ or my sister’ choice. I incline to listen more of educative genres.
But as the youngest in the house, no one would give me the chance to tune to my
favorite station and issue. In our home the decision what to tune to is decided by
my elders, so as a result I am forced to listen about sport or music. (Bethlehem,
Dagmawi Menillik S.S, 10/5/09)

Concerning serious genres like educative radio programs, a considerable

number of the participants in the study declared that they rarely listen to such
programs.

When exploring why the youth do not attend to those serious genres, it is found
that it is mainly related with the presentation of such items. For most of the
research participants, educative radio programs have no entertaining elements in
them. For the youth listeners, entertaining elements like jokes, dramas, short
story narrations, music that are appropriate to them should be included. Other
wise such programs become boring for them. For Frehiwot Wuhib, a 17 year old
female student, it is challenging to listen to educative radio programs because of
the „less interesting presentation‟: “For me it is boring to listen to dry and serious
radio programs. Even I couldn‟t have the patience to stay for few
minutes to check what the program is all about.” (Frehiwot, Dagmawi Menillik S.S,
10/5/09)

The other reason research participants gave for not tuning to educative radio programs
is related with the transmission time. As most discussants identified most of the
educative radio programs of Radio Ethiopia, are transmitted at the day time. This
hindered them not to get the chance to tune to some programs. Belay Kefyallew a 17
year old male student, stated that the transmission time of some programs forced him
not to attend them.
Most of the educative radio programs which I would like to attend are transmitted
in the day time. At this time of the day, I will be at school. I rather suggest those
programs to be transmitted in the evening hours or at the week ends. (Belay,Addis
Ketma S.S,15/5/09)

34
In general, the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews revealed that the
radio listening habit among participants was not regular. Most of the research
participants don‟t listen to the radio program of the national radio station- Radio
Ethiopia. They mostly listen to the entertaining programs of FM radio stations
where as serious genre programs are not preferred by them. The choice of issue
was determined by the presentation of the matters, peer pressure and family
members‟ dominance.

4.2.3 Audience’s Knowledge on Environmental Situations

In order to know the knowledge of the research participants on environmental

issues they were asked some questions. Results from the Focus Group
Discussions and in-depth interviews revealed water resources to be the highly
endangered part of the environment according to the research participants. This
concern is pronounced in almost in all focus group discussions held with
students. The participants also mentioned that forests are also be endangered in
their respective localities. Because of this situation other resources like soil and
air are also getting affected, the respondents assured.

The discussants also asked to mention what they think are the causes for
environmental degradation in their localities. They put lack of awareness on
environmental issues as the major cause for the problem. Weakness of the
government to implement proper protection and management of the environment
also mentioned as an additional cause for the problem.

As a solution they suggested to rise of the public‟s awareness on environmental

matters. In this regard they underlined on the important role the media can play.
Frehiwot Wuhib, 17 year old female student and regular listener of environmental
radio programs, expressed what she said the media is reluctant in giving
attention on environmental matters.
As far as I observed the Ethiopian media, especially many radio stations, give too much
time in dealing with for issues which are less irrelevant like football, music and art. I
think serious issues like environment and health are neglected when we compare it with
the coverage of other issues. (Frehiwot,Dagmawi Menillik S.S,10/5/09)

35
This view was also shared by most of the respondents who participated in the
group discussions.

As to the sources of environmental knowledge, student participants of this study

mentioned that regular class and participation in the environmental clubs are the
main source of environmental information. Most respondents also described the
media, in particular, TV and radio, to be their second sources of environmental
information.

4.3 Sinehizb-ena-Akababi Environmental Radio Program

This section deals in identifying the listeners of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi and it presents audience‟s view on the content of the program and the
rate they gave for the program. The section also discusses about the language
usage in the program and how the audience apply the message transmitted by
the radio program.

4.3.1 Who are Listeners?

Form the 36 respondents who participated in the FGD, only four of them are
found to be regular, and six of them are occasional listeners of the radio program
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi. The rest, 26 respondents never tune to the Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi environmental radio program or know about it. As they reported, it is for
the first time that they heard about Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program when
the researcher talked to them. Even, some of the respondents wondered if Radio
Ethiopia has any environmental radio program. This kind of question reminds the
researcher the same opinion reflected by some studies conducted in the Faculty
of Journalism and Communication at Addis Ababa University. For instance, the
research conducted by Eyob(2006) stated that Radio Ethiopia doesn‟t have a
single environmental radio program dedicated to serve farmers as target
audiences. (Eyob, 2006:83)

36
But the fact, as far as I know, Radio Ethiopia has environmental concern radio
program known as Sinehizb-ena-Akababi (population and environment). Even
though this program is treated environment issues combination with the issue of
population, the predominant issue addressed in the program much of the time is
the environment one. (See the result of the qualitative content analysis
conducted by the researcher on page 43)

In the FGDs, the occasional listeners revealed that the transmission time of
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program which is on Tuesdays from 12:30 am-1:00
pm is not convenient to them. This is the reason for their occasional tuning out to
the program. They said Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program transmission time
should be on weekends, or at evenings, if the transmission time adjusted in this
manner, it will be convenient for them to attend the program regularly.

The 26 respondents who claimed not having knowledge of the existence of the
radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi along with their respective FGD members
were made to listen to sample Sinehizb-ena-Akababi programs taken by me to
the research location. After listening to the sample programs, respondents
recommended that Radio Ethiopia should change the content of its
environmental radio program- Sinehizb-ena-Akababi especially for the youth
group. They also suggested switching the transmission hour of the program to
the convenient time to attend by students.

As occasional listeners and those who didn‟t tune the program at all put it [after
having the information about the airing time of the program] the current
broadcasting time of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi is not convenient especially for the
students to tune it.
I am a regular listener of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi.I get the chance to
tune the program only because my residence is near to the school. As you know the airing
time of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi is on lunch break time. Because I am near to the school I
could go to home and tune to the program. But all my friends don’t get this kind of
chance as they stayed in the school or around the premises with out access to radio
sets.(Sara Chane,Addis Ketema S.S, 15/5/09)

37
Considering such kind of suggestion is supported by the theory of reception
analysis which depicts audiences as having the free will to decided what and
when to watch, listen and read a certain media products(Williams,2003:199)

The in-depth interview conducted with the producer of the radio program
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi , Beyene Engdaw, revealed that in contrary to what the
students said, the producers of the program believed that the airing time of the
program is convenient to all audiences. Because of this, they never thought of
shifting the transmission time.

We believed that the airing time of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi (12:30 am-1pm) is

convenient for every audience. This time of the day is lunch- break for most of the
people. This would enable most audiences to have the chance to tune our
program. This time is also considered as prime time of the radio station- it is
believed that most people attend the station at this time. (Beyene, 1/5/09)

Concerning their reaction to the duration of each weekly program, most of the
respondents said 20 minutes are reasonable for them to stay at a place and
following the program. Some of them said what matters much is not the length of
the program rather the way the program is presented and its „beauty‟ weighs
much. Meaza Worku, 18 year old female student, on her part made the following
comment.

When educative radio programs have the element of entertainment, I could tune the
programs for hours without being tired or feeling bored. But if the presentation doesn’t
appeal me I couldn’t stay even for few minutes; I immediately turn to another channel.
(Meaza,Yemane Birihan S.S, 20/5/09)

As the producer of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program, told me, the length of

the program-20 minutes, is enough for the time being. But for the future they
have the plan to separate the two joined issues- population and environment,
and give enough time by entertaining in different radio programs.

This research shows that most of the research participants don‟t listen to the
radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi. But the occasional listeners complain
about the inconvenience of the transmission time of the radio program and
suggest the program to be shifted to the weekends or to be aired on night time.

38
4.3.2 Content of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi

The in-depth interviews conducted with the producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi

radio program gave the researcher a clear picture about the program. Mesifin
Assefa- the former producer of the program, stayed for 8 years in the program.
Mesfin was the one who proposed to start the program. As he recalled, he was
inspired to start the radio program after attending on environmental radio
coverage training held in the capital of Ghana, Accra. After submitting the
proposal and getting the go-ahead from his supervisors he launched the program
with his colleagues.

The in-depth interview conducted with these two senior journalists showed that
the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi contained various environmental issues
related to urban as well as rural areas.

Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program is designed to have a magazine format.

The former producer of the program, Mesfin Assefa, told to the researcher that
the producers used the Magazine format because they thought that this
approach will attract many audiences. But as he remembered this didn‟t continue
long.

After three years, we couldn’t keep up in following the Magazine Format. The main
reason for this is related with lack of support from sponsors. For instance one
organization had supported us in airing short radio plays for sometimes. But when the
fund stopped we also interrupted presenting the radio dramas. (Mesfin, 3/5/09)

As Mesfin recalled there were different packages in the Magazine format like
interviews, Analysis, Short story narrations and radio plays.

Beyene Engdaw, the current producer of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-

Akababi, stayed for three years in producing the program. He told the researcher
that the current producers of the program also tried to present the program in a
Magazine format.

We would like to present the program in a magazine format. But sometimes we can’t keep
the format because of lack of materials. In this kind of situations we forced to present the
program in one package type-only interviews or journalist’s narration.( Beyene,1/5/09)

39
The researcher of this study also found that the current presentation of Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi doesn‟t follow the magazine format. Seeing the common format of
the program would provide a clear picture about this situation.

The common format of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi

Intro/Jingle
↓
A journalist introduces the name of the program
↓
Bridge music
↓
A journalist introduces the items to be aired
↓
Bridge music
↓
Narration of a journalist on the selected issue
↓
Interview with professionals, officials
↓
Bridge music
↓
Narration of a journalist
↓
Interview with the community, activists
↓
Conclusion by the journalist and closing
↓
Jingle/end
As we can see from the above format of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi, the program always starts with presenting the introductory part of the
program. This part is focusing on presenting to the audience the name of the
program and its theme. Then a fragment of seconds is used for tuning to a bridge
music, which intends to keep the attention of the audience till the voice of the
host journalist appears on the air.

40
When the host journalist (the journalist who leads the program) appears on the
air, he/she introduces the content of the program for that day. Then according to
the type of the issue, professionals and officials share their experience through
interviews they conducted earlier.

After tuning in to the bridge music in between, the host journalist continues
strengthening the opinions raised by the experts or the officials in their
interviews. The host journalist does this by reading the script he wrote earlier.
When the program is winded up, the closing jingle (the short music which signals
the end of the program) be aired as a final input of the program.

The above format of the program clearly shows us that most of the programs
contained one package like interview with experts or the public. In order to make
it a Magazine format, different packages like Analysis, Short story narrations and
radio plays should be included.

I tried to make a rough examination of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio programs

transmitted between September-April 2009, which is equivalent to about 11
hours of audio production. A total of 32 programs dealing with various
environmental issues were aired.

Almost all programs were made of interviews with experts and officials. Out of
the 32 programs only eight of them contained sound bites of communities like
farmers and youth. In these interviews, farmers who participated in recovering
environment and youths who actively participated in environmental protection
activities were presented.

When we see the 24 aired programs, we found that next to the voice of experts
and officials the journalists do much of the talk. Journalists act like the expert and
give explanations about different environmental issues by quoting from different
reading materials. Here there are no sound bites at all and it is not likely to tune
to the voice of the ordinary people.

When we see the topics of those 32 aired programs in the last eight months, we
get the issue of forest having much coverage. Other environmental issues like
pollution, climate change, biodiversity are also entertained in the program. The
programs incorporated global and national concerns, having focus on different
activities under taken by regional administrations and the capital city Addis
Ababa. The table presented below shows us this situation.

41
TABEL 1- Sinehizb-ena-Akababi programs aired between the months of September 2008 up to
April 2009
Month Week Topic of the Program Focused Area
SEPTEMBER 1 Industrial Pollution-part -1 Addis Ababa
2 Industrial Pollution-part -2 Addis Ababa
3 Reproductive health and Family Planning National
4 Forest National
OCTOBER 1 Environmental pollution by house hold Amhara-Gonder
garbage
2 Usage of „Ethanol‟+ population policy National
3 Population policy National
4 Fuel and Forest National
NOVEMBER 1 Forest rehabilitation/Afforestation/-part 1 Amhara-Wogera Woreda
2 Forest and fuel-Part-2 Amhara-Wogera Woreda
3 Family planning service Amhara
4 Family Planning service Amhara
DECEMBER 1 City beautification part-1 Addis Ababa
2 City beautification part-2 Addis Ababa
3 Forest and National park Southern Ethiopia
4 Afforstation Amhara-Gonder
JANUARY 1 Water-Nile National+ Continental
2 Rehabilitating degraded areas/Forest/ Amhara-Gonder+Wollo
3 Water-Nile National+ Continental
4 River Pollution Addis Ababa
FEBRUARY 1 Natural coffee forest- part-1 Oromia- Illuababora
2 Natural coffee forest- part-2 Oromia- Illuababora
3 Keeping the forest Benishangul Gumuz
4 Climate Change and Government policy National

MARCH 1 Forestry college of Wondo Genet- part-1 National

2 Forestry college of Wondo Genet- part-2 National
3 Forestry college of Wondo Genet- part-2 National
4 Biodiversity National
APRIL 1 Climate Change and government stake National
holders
2 Sound Pollution National
3 Afforestation and Farmers- part-1 Southern Ethiopia
4 Afforsation and Farmers- part-2 Southern Ethiopia

Source- a qualitative research conducted by the researcher on the aired program

of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi and documents from Archive.

42
 Generally speaking, the intended format of the program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
was a magazine one. This was thought to attract the audience. But the real
practice in the program showed us that the content of the program is dominated
by the voice of officials, experts and journalists by forgetting incorporating
ordinary people. Due to this, the program could not attract audiences.

4.3.3 Respondents’ View on the content of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi

Regular as well as occasional listeners of the radio program of Sinehizb-ena-

Akababi claimed that they found the program covers various environmental and
development issues. Nura Abdella (15-year-old-female student from Addis
Ketema S.S) also agreed with this idea: “As far as I know, Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
radio program covers a variety of issues like afforestation, climate change and
pollution.‟‟ Eyasu Kellele(16-year-old-male student from Yemane Birihan S.S)
also forwarded what he observed on the content of the program:

Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program presented Varity of issues and

interviewees in it. As I remember farmers who worked in rehabilitating degraded
lands and youths who participated in environment protection appeared as guests
in the program. (Eyasu Kellele, 20/5/09)

The qualitative content analysis conducted on Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio

program revealed that much emphasis was given for the issue of forest. The
producer of the program, Beyene Engdaw , also agreed with this finding: “ In the
last 8 months transmission period we gave much emphasis for the issue of forest.
This was happening due to the government focus and campaign to plant more
trees in relation with the Ethiopian Millennium.”

In each Focus Group the researcher made participants listen to sample programs.
This in particular enabled those who didn‟t listen to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio
program to be active participants it enabled the respondents to react to the
questions related to the content of the program.

43
Most of the respondents said that the messages of the programs are in conformity
with what they already know from their life experience and their schooling. Some
also noted that they gained knowledge from the programs.

Concerning the question what kind of messages they want to get from Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi radio program, most students in the research group opted for facts on
environmental conditions and success stories of people who have changed their
environment for better.

For me I choose to hear the voice of the ordinary people- those people who
dedicated themselves in protecting the environment and became successful.
(Mezgebu Abera, Dagmawi Menillik S.S, 10/5/09)

It is boring to listen to only experts and officials’ voices. The media should be
able to bring celebrities and people who can be taken as a role model. Bringing
these kinds of people will provide more power to the media to attract audiences
and send the intended message. (Hafiza Kedir,Addis Ketema S.S,15/5/09)

Over all it seems the respondents like to listen to people whom they can take
their steps for action. Especially the youth would like to tune to their fellows‟
experience.

Even though most of the respondents are not the listeners of the radio program
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, their feedbacks after listening the sample programs were
valuable for this research. Over all it seems the respondents would like to listen
to people whom they can take their stapes for action. Especially the youth would
like to tune to their fellow‟s experience in the practice of changing the
environment for better.

4.3.4 Language usage of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi

Scholars in the study of media and audiences argue that producers of „media
texts‟ may think that they are producing messages with clarity and simplicity but
these messages won‟t be „‟simply dumped in to the minds of passive audiences.”
What the audiences do according to these scholars is to infer from the media
texts various meanings. (Croteau &Hoynes, 2003:267) This view is also

44
supported by the active audience theory which is discussed in the previous
chapters of this study. Accordingly an attempt has been made to check whether
respondents speak and understand the language used by the radio program
under investigation.

As FGDs with research participants revealed, producers‟ use of unfamiliar words

and phrases affect the interpretation of listeners of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi.

Some experts who appeared in the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi used too
many technical words and jargons. This will make understanding the whole
message difficult. (Yosef Dagmawi, Dagmawi Menillik S.S, 10/5/09):

Metasebia H/Mariam(18-year-old-female student from Yemane Birihan S.S) also

discussed what he faced in relation with the language usage if the program

Concerning the language used in the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, for

me it is some how understandable. As member of the environmental club in my
school, I do have some knowledge on the concepts related with environment this
helped me to in understanding the terminologies raised in the program. But my
doubt is could every listener understand those ideas easily? (Metasebia,
20/5/09)

The producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi also acknowledged the problem in

related with the use of language.

Most of the time we try to translate English coined words and terminologies in
to Amharic version. But we can’t assure to any body this happened every time.
Sometimes when we don’t have synonym for those terminologies, we just let the
English version to be aired as it is. (Beyene Engraw, the current producer of the
program, 1/5/09)
According to these producers, the problem mixing English words and phrases as
well as jargons are to come in most cases from the interviewees. Scholars in the
broadcast recommended producer to abstain, as far as possible, from using
words or phrases that listeners might not understand. The result of inserting such
words or phrases will only make audiences lose their focus to the program. In
Boyd‟s words “while they [Listeners] are puzzling over its meaning the
information that follows will vanish in to the ether”(Boyd, 2001:62; cited in
Solomon, 2008:49)

45
4.3.5 Applying of Media Messages

As many respondents who participated in the research are members of

environmental clubs which reside in their respective schools, they reported that
they mainly get in formation about the environment from their clubs.

Many of the respondents also described that the information they get from the
radio programs like Sinehizb-ena-Akababi can reinforce what they learned from
school and environment clubs. The message can help them in boosting what
they already started- in protecting the environment, according to the
respondents.

I get much of the information about the environment issue from the club I
participated. From the media, especially from the radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akabab,i I usually get information about scientific innovations and new data in
relation with the environment.(Belay Kefyalew,Addis Ketema S.S,15/5/09)

Some regular listeners of the program confirmed that some kinds of messages
transmitted via the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi inspired them for taking
actions in protecting the environment. For them, bringing people who actively
participated in environmental protection activity is the one which can create this
kind of inspiration.
I always am inspired to protect the environment when I see or hear about
successful people in action. For instance, I personally became member of the
environmental protection club after inspired by the actions of the famous
environment activist ‘Gashe Abera Molla’. (Shikur Mohammed,Addis Ketema
S.S,15/5/09)
Given the power of audiences as forwarded by proponents of the theory of active
audience, it is difficult to assume media as sole source of change. It however
seems reasonable to agree with the view that says „‟the media are more likely to
reinforce than to change „‟ (Servae, 1999 cited in Eyob, 2006:71) Likewise
student respondents said that the issues raised in the program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi have served them as reminders of environmental issues they already
know. They also claimed that the message they listen to on the radio may inspire
them to relate the issue with their environmental situation and act accordingly.

46
4.3.6 General rating by Research Participants

In every FGDs conducted in this research, participants asked to rate the radio
program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi by giving their own reason.

Out of the 36 respondents 20 of them or 55% of them gave the radio program the
mark „good‟. Ten of them or 27% respondents gave the grade „excellent‟ and the
rest six of them or 16% gave „very good‟ grade to the program. As most
respondents agreed, the program would be better than this if some
improvements be taken.

The respondents suggested that if this kind of important radio program blended
with entertainment element, it would catch the interest of the youth and able to
educate them well.

Including those who didn‟t listen to the program before [after listening to sample
programs] appreciated the content of the program. The respondents especially
appreciated the attempt of the program to incorporate various voices like experts,
officials and some member of the community. However, the respondents also
strongly recommended that if the program continues in presenting the experience
of those who participated in environmental protection activity, it would catch the
interest of most audiences. They also advised the radio stations to identify
burning issues of the public and treat those matters well.

In addition to these as the respondents put it, audiences are refraining from
tuning to radio stations like Radio Ethiopia in relation with the problem of
credibility. Yared Teshome, 18 year old male student agreed with the above idea.

Nowadays media like Radio Ethiopia are loosing their credibility. This happened
because the stations present unreliable and false information concerning different
issues. For instance these Medias disseminate information about the current price
of food items like ‘Teff’ and onion, but when you go to the market place and check
the reality; you will find that what has been told in the radio and what is observed
on the ground are contrary. You can observe this kind of mismatch also on
information related with the economic growth of the country. (Yared, Dagmawi
Menillik S.S, 10/5/09)

47
Another respondent, Birtukan demisse, 15 year old female student, also shares
the idea forwarded by her friends.

Audiences especially the youth are detaching themselves from tuning radio
stations like Radio Ethiopia. This is happened because most of the time the
stations entertained propaganda and dry political issues. That’s why most youth
audiences turn their attention in attending issues like foot ball and entertainment.
(Birukan,Yemane Birihan S.S, 20/5/09)

In general the respondents recommended that Radio Ethiopia must be able to

select issues which are of the public interest and entertain them with
incorporating much of the voice of the ordinary people in order to gain its
credibility as well as to achieve its objective as a public media.

4.4 Environment Reporting at Radio Ethiopia

Mass communication experts like Baran and Davis (2006:276) warn researchers
involved in reception studies not to make their own statements about encoding or
decoding but rather to meticulously examine the situations in which the media
messages are produced as much as the audiences. That is why this study tried
to asses the situations at Radio Ethiopia where the media output of Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi produced.

The in-depth interview conducted with the founder and former producer of the
radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, Mesfin Assefa, showed how and why this
program started. As he told me, the idea of starting this program emerged in the
year 1993/94. At that time as Mesfin recalls, new policies concerning population
and environment protection were drafted.

The need to introduce the newly drafted policies to the public had created
conducive situation for starting of the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi. This
program as its name indicated focuses on the issue of population and
environment. One of the themes of this program (the environmental aspect) has
intended to create public awareness on environmental issues. The other mission

48
of the program is disseminating messages to make the public know about the
newly drafted environmental policy. According to Mesfin, it was in the year
1997/98, the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi started to be on air.

When we examine how the producers plan and prepare the program, we found
that the whole process begins with setting an Annual plan. In this process, the
journalists are expected to propose the thematic area (general topics) to be dealt
with in the year. Then the journalists are required to prepare monthly plan. This is
a more detail plan than the annual one and is the critical step in selecting and
proposing specific topics which are going to be dealt in each week. In this step
each journalist is expected to present the detail of the topic he/she plan to deal
for the editorial group of the department. The editorial group, which is mostly
composed of editors, will examine and comment on the topics and finally pass it
for the individual journalist to implement it.

Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program is currently produced by one permanent

editor and assistant editors who change from time to time. According to Beyene
Engdaw, the permanent producer of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, the program needs
more producers who are going to handle it permanently: “We have shortage of
man power. I am the only permanent editor reside in the program. Other editors,
who can handle the program attentively, must be assigned.”
For the producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi the most challenging thing in
producing the program is getting the necessary information from the right person.
Because the current producers of the program are less experienced and have
less contact with professionals, it becomes difficult to get information.

It is obvious that in order to produce a radio program, the journalist need

materials like sound bites of interviewed people. When we come to the radio
program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, some times when producers couldn‟t find the
necessary material, they are forced to cover the program with reading materials
from a magazine or other sources.

49
As Beyene admit it, this kind of presentation is against the intended format of the
program which is the „Magazine Format‟.

Sometimes when we lack input materials; we just take a text from internet,
magazine or news paper and present it in narration without adding any sound
bites. Or we might call to some expert, conduct the interview via phone, and let
the whole material to be aired as it is. Of course this kind of presentation is
against our magazine format and could make our program to become boring.
(Beyene, 1/5/09)

Beyene mentioned that this kind of situation happens because the journalists are
not well trained in sniffing and digging different issues related to environment. As
he said, there is lack of capacity in getting enough and relevant materials to
entertain on the program.

In relation to the skills and education of the producers, the main producer of the
program Beyene Engdaw has a diploma in Adult Education. He is also currently
a BA student of Global Study and International Relation at Generation University
College in Addis Ababa.

As Beyene told me besides taking some general training on radio journalism, he

didn‟t take any training in relation to producing environmental radio program. This
in turn hindered him from producing effective environmental programs: “I believe
that taking relevant trainings on global and national environmental situations
would be helpful in treating such matters well and producing effective radio
programs.”
Concerning how journalists are assigned to work on the program, Beyene
acknowledged that most of the time journalists are assigned to work on any
program as a matter of chance. As he explained what this means, journalists are
not assigned to produce any program by considering their educational
background or according to their interests- this kind of assignment is done
randomly, he added.

50
In relation to getting feedbacks from audience, the producers of the radio
program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi could be taken as having poor relationship with
the audience.

We tried to get feedbacks from the audience mainly only from telephone while the
program is airing. Other than this we don’t receive significant number of letters
from the audience. Yearly we only get 3-5 letters from our audiences. (Beyene,
1/5/09)

The researcher of this study believes that having strong relationship with the
audience is vital in getting feedbacks for the program. So I recommend that the
producers should work hard in promoting and encouraging their audiences to
write and call them regularly.

Conclusion
In this chapter I tried to present and interpret the reaction of research participants
to a set of questions concerning the listening habit of the audiences in
environmental messages and the radio program Sinehizb-ena-Akababi. Inline
with the research questions and objectives of this study, the findings and
interpretations were presented and categorized under thematic areas. Regarding
reinforcement theory and presence of active audience, results of the
interpretation are found to be inconformity with the basic tenets of the theory of
active audience which are also adopted as the theoretical foundation of this
study. In other words, the respondents do not display homogeneity in their
reception of messages of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program; they rather
develop meaning by actively relating to their lived experiences and social
settings. And out of the discussion in this chapter, conclusions and
recommendations are made in the following chapter.

51
 CHAPTER FIVE: Summary of Findings and
Recommendations

5.1 Summary of Findings

In a situation where environmental issue becomes critical issue, nations should

focus on fighting the environmental problem by educating and equipping their
citizens with the necessary information about the situation. To reach the general
population with these messages, mass media has a great role. However, it is
also vital to cross check whether or not the intended message reaches to the
right audience and meet the targeted plan. Like wise In Ethiopia, the information
concerning whether the youth group listen to radio programs related to
environmental issues or not is almost non existent. This study, therefore,
explored the radio listening habit of high school youth on environmental issues,
with particular reference to the environmental radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi.

In fact, as this study is limited to a small group of high school youth so its findings
cannot be generalized to the whole youth population. However, it is believed that
the findings offered some important insights into the understanding regarding the
listening habit of youth on environmental media messages.

In this study it is observed that most of the participants considered environment

protection clubs and the formal education as their main source of information. But
they didn‟t mention the media in general and the radio program Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi particular as their main sources for information in relation to
environment.

52
Most of the discussants indicated that for them radio is preferable in presenting
entertaining programs and music. When the respondents were asked which radio
station they tuned to most, most of them put FM radio stations as their primary
choice. They prefer FM stations because most of the stations are entertaining.

As some research participants pointed out that they don‟t read that much
magazines and news papers as the price became unaffordable for the social
class like them.

Being asked which issue appeals them most for listening, most respondents
confirmed that they give priority for issues of sport activities and social matters.
Concerning serious genres like educative radio programs, a considerable
number of the participants in the study claimed that they rarely tune to such
programs.

As this study showed, radio programs which include drama, songs, stories and
phone-in programs are the preferred ones amongst the youth for delivering
environmental messages. Most respondents also agreed to the insignificant
attention paid by the media to the coverage of environmental issues. Some
audiences also mentioned lack of credibility in national media; make them to
refrain from tuning to them.

As the FGDs showed, research participants make a conscious decision to listen

a specific issue on radio. The listening habit of radio among the participants was
not regular. The choice of issue is determined by the presentation of the matters,
peer pressure and family members‟ dominance. This kind of situation shows as
what Croteau and Hoynes (2003:273), points out- we are not simply free of
constraints while we confront with media messages. The finding also shows us
what Pitout mentioned- Factors like age, parental status, gender neighborhood
and the like shape our media experience (2003:273). Pitout also indicated that
our family setting and our social group membership in which our media
consumption takes place have influence in our interpretation of media messages
(2001:258).

53
Form the 36 respondent who participated in the FGD, only four of them were
found to be regular, and six of them were occasional listeners of the radio
program, Sinehizb-ena-Akababi. The rest 26 respondents never tuned to the
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi environmental radio program or know about it. They stated
lack of entertaining elements from the program and lack of credibility as major
reasons that force them not attending such programs.

Those listeners who tuned the program occasionally revealed that the
transmission time of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program which is on Tuesdays
from 12:30 am-1:00 pm is not convenient to them. This was the reason for their
occasional tuning to the program. They said had Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio
program transmission time been on weekends or at evenings, they would have
attended the program regularly.

Most of the respondents said that the messages of the programs of Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi are in conformity with what they already know from their life
experience and their schooling. Some also noted that they have gained some
knowledge from the programs.

The production of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi has very much relied on inputs from

experts and academicians which creates less interest to the some part of the
community. But as most respondents indicated, they like to listen to people
whom they can take their steps for action. As youth group, they would like to tune
their fellows‟ experience. Most respondents said they would like to listen to the
voices of ordinary people though they consider professionals‟ voice as an
important component. However the current program format is not interesting for
the audience as respondents put it.

From the perspective of the producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi, lack of

manpower and poor capacity to get information are mentioned as the main
constraints in producing the program. They also admitted that lack of
professional education and training constrained them from producing effective
radio programs. Having poor relationship with their audiences also mentioned as
one of the producers‟ weakness.

54
5.2 Recommendations

The results of this study indicate that most youth don‟t use those serious genres,
like environmental issues. This was mainly related with the presentation of such
items. It is thus suggested that, educative radio programs should include
entertaining elements like jokes, dramas, short story narrations, music that are
appropriate to them.

The findings of this study also suggest that the environmental radio program
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi has to incorporate the voices of people at grass roots who
have direct attachments with environmental issues raised by the radio program.
The study would like recommend that the program should continue in presenting
the experience of those who participated in environmental protection activity.
This will catch the interest of most audiences.

It is also appropriate to advise the radio program producers like Sinehizb-ena-

Akababi to identify burning issues of the public and treat those matters well.
Radio stations and other media are expected to avoid credibility problems and
give adequate emphasis for serious genres like environmental issues.

The producers need to develop a method to popularize newly coined Amharic

words as well as foreign terms of environment science that have no equivalent
terms in Amharic to the audience before using them. The producers need to
always explain the newly coined terms and jargons immediately after mentioning
them. Concerning interviewees, before every interview the producers have to
remind the experts that their listeners are people who mostly understand
Amharic. It is also appropriate to recommend journalists in consultation with
professionals working on environment to come up with a style book for
environmental reporting.

55
The producers of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi should be able conduct and identify the
convenient time for listening and possibly switch the transmission hour of the
program to the convenient time for students. They also need to encourage
audiences to write more letters and to have contact with the program producers.
This will help the producers to get valuable feed backs for the betterment of the
program.

It is also in the interest of this study that a more comprehensive research based
on quantitative inquiries be made on audiences of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi to be
able to come up with results that can be more representative of the general
audience of the program.

56
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 APPENDICES

ANNEX 1: List of research participants

FGD participants
Yemane Birihan Secondary School
No. Name Sex Age Grade Listening to
Sinehizb-ena-
Level Akababi
1 Abdi Waqeyo M 15 9 Don‟t listen
2 Azeb Abrham F 17 10 Occasional
3 Nardos Gorfu F 16 9 Don‟t listen
4 Meaza Worku F 18 11 Don‟t listen
5 Nardos Tilahun F 15 9 Don‟t listen
6 Metasebia H/Mariam F 18 12 Don‟t listen
7 Eyasu Kellele M 16 10 Don‟t listen
8 Anaoli Mersha M 15 9 Regular
9 Dawit Mekonen M 17 11 Don‟t listen
10 Eyerusalem Tilahun F 15 9 Don‟t listen
11 Birtukan Demisse F 18 12 Don‟t listen
12 Feven Tewodros F 15 9 Occasional

Dagmawi Menillik secondary School

No. Name Sex Age Grade Listening to
Sinehizb-ena-
Level Akababi
1 Fikrte Demsse F 15 9 Occasional
2 Samrawit Hailu F 16 10 Don‟t listen
3 Eyrusalem Mezgebu F 17 9 Don‟t listen
4 Sintayhu Wondossen M 17 10 Don‟t listen
5 Yared Teshome M 15 9 Regular
6 Yoseph Dagnachew M 18 11 Don‟t listen
7 Frehiwot Wuhib F 17 11 Don‟t listen
8 Asmelash Tekalegn M 16 9 Occasional
9 Betelehem Alebachew F 15 9 Don‟t listen
10 Embet Tadesse F 17 12 Don‟t listen
11 Samrawit Tsegaye F 15 9 Don‟t listen
12 Mezgebu Abera M 17 12 Don‟t listen

61
Addis Ketema secondary School
No. Name Sex Age Grade Listening to
Sinehizb-ena-
Level Akababi
1 Shikur Mohammed M 15 10 Don‟t listen
2 Nuria Hashim F 16 9 Don‟t listen
3 Tesema Belay M 17 11 Occasional
4 Sara Chane F 17 9 Don‟t listen
5 Belay Kefyalew M 15 10 Regular
6 Birtukan Abebe F 18 9 Don‟t listen
7 Hafiza Kedir F 17 10 Don‟t listen
8 Nura Abdella F 16 9 Occasional
9 Assefa Alemu M 15 10 Don‟t listen
10 Tenagne Abera F 17 11 Don‟t listen
11 Tsega Alemu M 15 9 Regular
12 Asres Bekele F 17 10 Don‟t listen

Individual in-depth interviews participants

Students

No Name Sex Age Grade Listening to

Level Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi
1. Nardos Tilahun F 15 9 Don‟t listen
2. Azeb Abraham F 17 10 Occasional
3. Feven Tewodros F 15 9 Occasional
4. Eyrusalem Tilahun M 17 10 Don‟t listen
5. Sintayhu Wondwossen M 17 10 Don‟t listen
6. Betelhem Alebachew F 15 9 Don‟t listen
7. Frehiwot Wuhib F 17 11 Don‟t listen
8. Eyrusalem Mezgebe F 17 9 Don‟t listen
9. Nuria Hashim F 16 9 Don‟t listen
10. Belay Kefyalew M 15 10 Regular
11. Nura Abdella F 16 9 Occasional
12. Asres Bekele F 17 10 Don‟t listen
Journalists
Mesfin Assefa, Beyene Engdaw

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ANNEX 2a: Interview guide for FGD and In-depth Interview with
students
Part 1: Biographical Information
1. Name/Code___________
2. Age__________________
3. Gender___________________
4. Grade level__________________
Part 2: Knowledge of local Environmental Issues
1. Which part of the environment is more affected in your area?
(list them in sequence):
a, soil b, forest c, water d, air
2. Why do you think the above component/s of the environment is/are affected?
3. How does the status of these components affect your life?
4. What will be the future of the environment in your locality? Will it improve or
get worse?
5. What solutions do you suggest to environmental degradation? (E.g. Prayers,
better management, policy, more media work…)
Part 3: Access to media and use
1. How is your access to the media?
a, Radio b, TV c, Print media d. Internet
e. Other medias_______________
2. Which programs/ columns do you attend often?
3. How do you get information about environmental issues?
4. From the different sources of information which one do you prefer most? Why?
Part 4: Listening habit of Radio
1. How often do you listen to radio?
2. Which radio station do you listen to most?
3. Do you listen to Radio Ethiopia?
4. How often and what program do you listen most?
5. Which radio programs are your favorites? (List them in order of importance)
a. environment b. sport c. health d. news

63
e. others_______________
6. What are your main reasons for the priority?
Part 5: Listening habit of ‘Environmental’ radio programs

1 How often do you listen to environmental radio programs?

2. Which radio station‟s environmental radio program do you listen most?
3. What do you like and dislike most about the program?

Part 6: Listening habit of Radio Ethiopia’s Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio

program
1. Whose radio do you usually listen to?
a, your own radio b, friend‟s radio C, families radio
d, Other__________________
2. When did you start listening to Radio Ethiopia?
3. How often do you listen to Radio Ethiopia?
a, almost daily b, about 2/3 days a week c, once a week
d, other__________________
4. Which radio programs are your favorites? (list them in order of importance)
a, environment b, sport c, health d, news
e, other________
5. What are your main reasons for the above priority
6. Do you listen to the Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
a, Yes b, No
7. If you are listening to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program , who is the owner
(producing agency) of the program?
8. What comes first to your mind when you think of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio
program?
9. Why are you listening to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
10. How often do you listen to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
a, regularly b, not regularly
11. When did you start listening to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?

64
12. How do you use Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program program?
a, as a source of entertainment b, as a source of information and
news c, as any other radio program d, don‟t know
13. What features of the program interest you most and make the program
particularly relevant to you? Why? (Could be more than one answer)
14. How are your needs met in the radio program (refers to the issues you think
were made particularly for you)?
15. What do the programs lack/miss to meet your demands, (if they do)?
16. In what condition are you listening to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
(While studying,eating, sitting in your room…?)
17. Was there a time where you decided to stop listening to Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program?
a, Yes b, No
18. If your answer to the above question is yes, what were your reasons?
a, the broadcast time is inconvenient with your own activity
b, overlap of the program with other program(radio or TV) c, Irrelevance
of the program to personal activity(interest)
d, other ____________________________
19. Is the bi-weekly Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio programming enough? For how
many days a week do you like to listen to Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
20. What is your reaction to the duration of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio
program? Should it be extended (longer than the current) or reduced (shorter
than its current duration)?
21. Are you comfortable with the timing of the program contents? (Are they
compatible with the seasons/farming calendars of farmers …?)
22. Are there any programs that inspired you? Can you try to remember one or
more programs?
23. Which issues do you think have got more coverage on Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program? (List in your own sequence)
a, water & irrigation b, soil c, agriculture d, forest
e,other_______________________________

65
24. How relevant are the above issues to the environmental realities of your
locality?
25. How easily/clearly do you understand the language/words used by the
journalists and interviewees (experts, farmers…)?
26. Whose language do you understand better: the journalists‟ or the
interviewee‟s?
27. Among the interviewees whom do you find easy to understand:
Professionals/experts or farmers?
28. To what degree do you think has the Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program
helped you know the causes and solutions for some of your environmental
issues?
29. Have you ever heard from your teachers what you have heard from the radio
program?
30. If your answer to the above question is “YES” , then What do you feel when
you hear again the same issue (aired on radio) from your teachers?
31. Does the content of the Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program conform to
what your teachers and other professionals telling you?
32. Do you discuss the issues raised by the Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio
program program with your friends or teachers? If so, how often?
33. Have you ever tried to put into practice the information you have got from the
program? (E.g. stopped cutting trees, planted trees, construct terraces…)
34. How do you generally evaluate the coverage of environmental issues
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program ?

ANNEX 2b: Interview Guide for all FGDs on Interpretation of

Messages (after listening to two sample programs)
1. What are the programs about?
2. What meaning did you make after listening to the programs? Why?
3. Were they interesting to you? Why?
4. Are they inconformity with what you already know?

66
5. How does each program appeal to your own life experience as a human being
and as member of environmental club?
6. To whom do you think the programs need to be presented? Why?
7. What kind of messages do you want to get from the programs on Sinehizb-
ena-Akababi radio program?
(Facts, people’s experience, educative, entertaining, apprehensive
messages…)
8. If you were to evaluate Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program, where do you
put it and why?
a, excellent b, very good c, good d, fair, e. poor

ANNEX 3a: Guide for In-depth Interview with the

coordinator/producer of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program.
I.PART ONE
1. Name ________________
2. Position________________
3. Responsibility in the production of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program
_________
4. Educational background ________________________________
II. PART TWO
1. For how long have you been involved in the production of Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program
2. When and how did you start airing Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program on
radio Ethiopia? What were its objectives?
3. How do you get program ideas?
4. Are the issues nation wide or do you focus on specific areas of the nation?
5. What are the sources of the commentaries/scripts you read on Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program?
Do you edit scripts/stories you take from other sources (newspapers,
magazines, websites…) so that they can appeal to radio audience?

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6. Do you use newly coined Amharic words/terms (such as sine-mehedar1,
sinetewaldo1,sine-hizb1…) in your commentaries?
7. Do you edit interviews you have had with experts that use English words and
terms?
8. Do you make efforts to have sound bites of farmers? How do you balance
farmers‟ voice with that of professionals?
9. What format do you commonly use while producing Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
radio program (prioritize if you are using more than one format)
a, Lecture /straight talk b, interviews/discussions
c, drama d, music e, jingles/slogans f, feature
g, magazine (containing a number of issues in the form of interviews, music,
straight talk…) h, infotainment
10. Do you think the issues you raise relate to the reality of the society?
11. Have you ever thought of changing the transmission time of Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program?
Why?
12. Are there plans to air Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program more than once
a week or to increase
or decrease the duration? If there are, how did the idea come?
13. How do you get feedback about Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
14. What kind of comments do you get?
15. How many letters do you get on average weekly?
16. What kinds of messages are sent via letters?
17. Are there specialist environmental journalists or beats in your institution?
18. In which part of the country do you have more listeners?
19. If you are one who is not trained in the fields of environment/ agriculture or
related areas, what challenges are you facing in doing programs on
environmental issues?
20. Have you ever received media related trainings? And in particular on
environmental reporting?
21. Do you think lack(if there is any) of training on the field affecting the

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performance of your producers?
22. Who decides the contents of Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?
23. Has the owner of the station (Radio Ethiopia) editorial power/right over your
productions? Are there cases where you were forced to drop an already
produced program/s as a result of exercising this „editorial power/right‟? Please
mention.
24. Any challenges you are facing in dealing with the Ethiopian Radio?
25. Has there been any assessment such as audience research concerning
Sinehizb-ena-Akababi radio program?

ANNEX 3b: Guide for In-depth Interview with the producer of

Sinehizb-ena-Akababi
I. PART ONE
1. Name _________________
2. Position ________________
3. Responsibility in the production of Akababi-ena-lemat______
4. Educational background _______________
II. PART TWO
1. For how long have you been involved in the production of Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program?
2. How do you get program ideas?
3. Are the issues nation wide or do you focus on specific areas of the nation?
4. What are the sources of the commentaries/scripts you read on Sinehizb-ena-
Akababi radio program?
Do you edit scripts/stories you take from other sources (newspapers,
magazines, websites…) so that they can appeal to radio audience?
5. Do you use newly coined Amharic words/terms (such as sine-mehedar1,
sinetewaldo1,sine-hizb1…) in your commentaries?
6. Do you edit interviewees you have with experts that use English words and
terms?
7. Do you make efforts to have sound bites of farmers? How do you balance

69
farmers‟ voice with that of professionals?
8. How do you get feedback about the programs you produce from the audience?
9. What kind of comments do you mostly get?
10. In which part of the country do you have more listeners?
11. If you are one who is not trained in the fields of environment/ agriculture or
related areas, what challenges are you facing in doing programs on
environmental issues?
Have you ever received media related trainings? And in particular on
environmental reporting?(Please specify)

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Declaration

This thesis is my original work. It has not been presented for a degree in any
other university and that all sources of material used for the thesis have been
duly acknowledged.

Daniel Amare Feleke

______________________
_______________, 2009

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